A white Acura Integra drifted across the double-yellow lines on a rural Central California highway and smashed into a fully loaded gravel truck pulling two trailers, sending the massive rig tumbling onto its side in a choking cloud of dust and debris.
Dashcam footage released by the California Highway Patrol’s Coalinga office captured the Sept. 9 collision around 11:30 a.m. on State Route 33 at Coalinga-Mendota Road in Fresno County.
The video, recorded from a vehicle traveling just behind the truck, shows the compact sports car coming around a curve too wide, crossing into the oncoming lane and striking the left side of the tractor-trailer. The impact sent the Acura spinning and twisting through the air before it came to rest on the shoulder, its driver’s side door hanging off and the front end crumpled.
Seconds later, the truck lost balance. Both gravel trailers overturned, dumping their loads across the pavement along with diesel fuel. Debris littered the two-lane road as the following driver swerved to avoid the wreckage.
The Acura driver suffered major injuries and was airlifted to Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno. Officials said the injuries were not considered life-threatening and the motorist is expected to recover. The truck driver was treated for minor injuries at Coalinga Regional Medical Center.
CHP investigators have not released the names of either driver or a final determination on the cause. The video, however, makes the sequence unmistakable: the smaller car left its lane on the curve and hit the much larger vehicle head-on.
The highway was closed for hours while crews cleaned up spilled gravel and fuel. No other vehicles were involved.
The footage has circulated widely since CHP posted it, showing in raw detail how quickly a lane departure on a two-lane rural road can turn a routine haul into a rollover.
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